Facebook Bans Private Gun Sales
January 29 2016 - 8:18PM
Dow Jones News
By Deepa Seetharaman
Facebook Inc. is banning private gun sales on the social network
and its Instagram photo-sharing network around the world, the
company said on Friday.
The changes target individuals offering guns for sale, rather
than firearms sold by gun stores or licensed retailers. Those
retailers can continue to display their wares on Facebook "while
completing sales transactions off Facebook," a spokeswoman for the
Menlo Park, Calif.-based company said Friday.
With its move, Facebook joins online marketplaces eBay and
Craigslist in prohibiting private sales of firearms through their
sites.
This month, President Barack Obama outlined a plan to bolster
gun regulation. The administration's plan would require more
sellers to be licensed as well as screening all sales online and at
gun shows, some of which now don't require background checks, he
said.
"The updated policy aligns more closely with our policies around
commerce and advertising, which place similar restrictions on
advertisements of regulated goods including pharmaceuticals,
illegal drugs, and firearms," the Facebook spokeswoman said.
The news was reported earlier by Reuters.
In recent years, Facebook has been making it easier for its
users to buy, sell and trade items. These interactions often happen
over Facebook groups and through private messages.
Before Friday's change, Facebook's policies already prohibited
users from selling marijuana, pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs on
the site. In 2014, the company changed how it monitored the private
sale of regulated items like guns, including reminding users to
comply with the relevant laws.
The Trace, a blog that focuses on gun issues, reported earlier
this month that it was still easy for Facebook users to arrange
private gun sales while bypassing background checks.
"Moms are grateful for the leadership shown by Facebook today by
announcing that they will remove all unlicensed gun sales from
their platforms," Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for
Gun Sense in America, said in a statement.
In an interview, Ms. Watts said her group had been talking to
Facebook executives for two years about limiting the promotion of
guns. "It's a huge platform they have," she said.
The National Rifle Association didn't immediately respond to a
request for comment.
Write to Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 29, 2016 20:03 ET (01:03 GMT)
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